A single exception
by AuroraNin
Summary: Keiko has been trying and trying to be friends with this girl. Finally she makes a step towards that goal, and what does the girl do? She attacks her! You can bet Yusuke would be pissed and for good reason...
1. Chapter 1

Just so you know I don't own YuYu Hakusho or any character therein.. I wish I did, but I don't. I only own Sai Zoten (but don't tell her that...She'll kill me...)

**A Single Exception**

_Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?  
_

**Chapter 1**

Somewhere in the world is a little town like all little towns but for one exception. This day is a Tuesday and life bustles busily onward, unaware of any pain greater than the casual teenage angst and rebels expressing themselves in the form of graffiti on the backs of old department stores. One street seems to be untouched by any of this. It's as though it was taken directly from a children book.

Children play in the street as their parents watch close by. Couples stroll along looking at the few shops that line the sidewalk. They are all blissfully ignorant of the war that rages around them. A single booming of thunder is all the warning preceding a sudden downpour, children and adults alike laughingly scramble for cover from the rain. In the bustle of activity a small sodden figure walks jerkily past them, unnoticed but for one little child, a little girl. The figure pauses looking deep into the eyes of the child. The child blinks and the figure is gone.

As quickly as the rain started it stops, returning the day back to the sunny late summer. The people tentatively step out from under their makeshift shelters and look up at the cloudless sky, completely oblivious to the horrendous miracle that has occurred right under their noses. Life returns to normal except for the heart of one little child who has been granted a gift far greater and more terrifying than any of her dreams or nightmares.

-------------(somewhere else)

"That girl aggravates me!" An (you guessed it) aggravated Keiko throws up her hands in defeat.

"Why? Cause she sits by herself?" Yusuke leans back in one of those metal cafeteria chairs smirking at Keiko, "Give it a rest will ya?" (yes they are eating in a cafeteria, for once.)

"Yeah, Keiko. You've been trying to make friends with her ever since she transferred here, maybe you should just leave her alone for once." Kuwabara mutters picking at his lunch.

"She's been here for three months and hasn't made one friend! It can't be fun for her." Keiko looks determinedly over at a girl eating in a corner. The people sitting at the same table all leave a respectable distance between them and her. Her ear length hair is a coal black and billows around her face blocking her eyes from view.

"Maybe she likes it that way." Yusuke tries to convince Keiko, but she won't be swayed. He watches in amusement as she takes a breath in and stalks over to the girl. The girl looks up as Keiko approaches. Keiko says something and pauses, waiting for the other to answer. A moment later Keiko's eyes grow wide as the girl scrapes her chair back and stands up, tray in hand.

_I'll have to tell Hiei that I found someone shorter than him! _Kuwabara thinks gleefully. She follows a stunned but beaming Keiko over to where Yusuke and Kuwabara are watching. The girl sits down next to Keiko and places the tray in front of her, looking straight at Yusuke. She could be considered pretty if her face wasn't so stiff and unyielding and her mouth wasn't always pressed into a thin line. Yusuke discreetly takes in the appearance the girl, his heart skipping a beat when he looks up to meet the coldest navy blue eyes he's ever seen. Her gaze is intense, and Yusuke shivers feeling suddenly colder in the warm cafeteria.

"Let me introduce you to my friends!" Keiko's voice rises slightly in her excitement, "This is Yusuke Urameshi and this is Kazuma Kuwabara." Keiko points to each boy as she introduces him.

Something flashes across the girl's face as she nods taking the names in, "Sai Zoten." Even her innocent sounding voice is cold and distant.

Lunch goes by without so much as a peep from the girl and nervous fidgeting from the others, except Keiko. Keiko chatters up a storm in her excitement to have finally made a step in her quest to befriend this antisocial girl, well…sort of. She seems completely oblivious to the twitching of her two comrades and the frozen stance of the other.

(End of School)

Keiko, model student, is the first one out of class. She run-walks over to where Yusuke is leaning against the outermost wall, chewing on a blade of grass. His hands are stuffed in his pockets and he looks very much like a street punk.

"Yusuke…" Keiko says in a dangerous voice. Yusuke looks up at her and lifts an eyebrow, "You weren't in our last class." If possible her voice lowers even more as her eyes storm.

"'Cause it's borin'." Yusuke pushes himself off the wall and starts walking toward the street. Keiko follows a few steps behind him.

"You're hopeless, you know that? You go and do this even after all the strings we had to pull to get you into high school!" Keiko says, aggravated. Yusuke snorts, suddenly he feels an immense energy coming towards them, and fast.

"Holy crap!" He mutters before shoving Keiko and himself away. Keiko closes her eyes when she feels Yusuke slam into her, a loud fizzing sound echoing in her ears. She lies on the ground for a moment trying to breath with a heavy weight pressing down on her. When she opens her eyes the first thing she sees is a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring down into her own.

**SMACK**

"YUSUKE! YOU PERVERT!" Keiko jumps up in anger as Yusuke does in defense.

"I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE!" Yusuke and Keiko stand there shouting at each other, faces red, "THAT WOULD'VE BEEN YOU IF I HADN'T DONE SOMETHING!" Yusuke points to the spot they had just vacated. Keiko draws in a sharp breath, eyes going wide. A crater the size of a car smolders with heat. The very center of the concave circle is blackened, and the air crackles with electricity.

"What happened?" Keiko whispers.

"Lightning."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_To rip the sky like lightning!_**  
**

Both heads shoot up at the sound of the new voice. They watch a very short figure move towards them.

"Sai-chan?" Keiko takes a step forward, ignoring Yusuke as he raises a hand to stop her. Sai raises an arm and straightens it, hand held palm forward, as though telling Keiko to stop.

"What-?" Keiko is cut off as electricity sparks around Sai's hand.

"**Inazuma**.**" **She says simply. A bolt of lighting shoots from Sai's hand and strikes Keiko, continuing on past her it creates another smoldering crater only slightly smaller than the first. Keiko crumples in a heap.

"Keiko! You…!" Yusuke turns toward Sai, his eyes smoldering and his hands clenched into fists as his spirit energy rises. Sai stands there completely unfazed in the face of his anger.

"Careful, _detective_. I hit her again and she's dead." Sai's face is empty, devoid of emotion. "And you're not fast enough to stop me before she dies." Yusuke's hands clench, finger nails digging into his skin.

"He may not be, but I am." A short boy steps out from behind Yusuke immediately following the voice. He has black hair thrusting into the air, with a white sunburst exploding from the crown of his head and stretching up towards the tips. Sai's eyes flicker to him briefly before dismissing him and going back to Yusuke. The short boy makes a move but Yusuke's arm stops him.

"She's mine." He bites out and the boy raises an eyebrow but stops nonetheless.

Another male appears next to Keiko's limp form. His flaming red hair catches the last rays of the sun before it's completely blocked by dark clouds.

"What happened, Yusuke?" The boy leans down checking Keiko's pulse.

"I'll fill you in later Kurama." Yusuke's eyes never leave Sai's, "Right now, I have a fight to finish." He charges full tilt towards the small girl. With a battle cry he swings his fist at her unprotected face. Their eyes make contact. A second before he rams into her Sai's form glows and then disappears. Yusuke stumbles feeling a slight tingling before swinging around to where she had been.

"What the-?" Yusuke looks around frantically trying to spot his intended victim, "Hiei, can you see her?" The short guy looks around before shaking his head in the negative, his arms folded, "Crap, she's fast."

Faded booming alerts the boys and they both look over to Kurama. He stands between an unconscious Keiko and a determined Sai, his face mirroring her own. They stand there sizing each other up. Sai nods once before placing both hands into the air in front of her, fingers curved as though she was going to play a piano.

"_Thunder Blades_." Both hands clench around now visible hilts of white sparking energy. In one fluid motion she pulls two jagged swords of the same energy seemingly from the air and eases into a fighting position. Legs spread, knees bent with her arms crossing each other over her chest, the swords held back jutting into the air behind her. Kurama pulls a rose from his hair and with one sharp movement turns it into his rose whip.

With her back foot Sai pushes herself forward towards him. With a flick of his wrist Kurama maneuvers the whip in the air as it flies toward Sai's moving form. As the whip moves the tip of it grows long deadly thorns. It wraps around her leg, thorns digging into her skin, a trickle of blood seeping from the abrasion. With a fluent motion the girl swings a sword around, slicing the tip off the whip. The sword sparks at the contact and sends electrical shocks towards Kurama's hand. Kurama lets out a grunt as the electricity goes through him. Her moving form picks up speed as she nears her target. Five feet away she leaps high into the air. Kurama looks up, almost expecting the girls swords to come sweeping down on him. His eyes widen in realization when she sails over him.

Pulling her excitedly sparking swords over her head she comes crashing down onto the defenseless Keiko. When the girl and the swords make contact a field of electricity shoots from it, sending out a blinding white light. All three of the boys avert their eyes briefly until the light fades. When they look over again Sai is crouching past Keiko's convulsing figure. She straightens, hands lowering to her side and looks over her shoulder at the girl. The swords flicker and disappear. Instantly the three boys surround Sai. Trapping her. Yusuke stands next to Keiko, refusing to look at her. Hiei and Kurama's eyes flame with anger, her attacking a helpless victim getting to them both.

"You're dead." Hiei bites out. Sai just stands there looking past both of the boys in front of her.

"Not yet." She whispers just loudly enough for Kurama's sensitive ears to hear. With a speed to rival Hiei's both of her arms rise until she is reaching up to the sky.

"Hiei! Stop her!" Kurama shouts. Hiei is instantly in front of Sai, katana drawn and shooting for the kill. Before sword can make contact with flesh Sai's body stretches and twists, transforming into a bolt of lightning which shoots away from the group. Without any prompting Hiei disappears in pursuit. Yusuke instantly drops to his knees beside Keiko. Her body has finally stopped convulsing and she lies as though asleep… or dead.

"Yusuke, let's get her to Koenma." Yusuke nods and picks Keiko up, carrying her piggyback. He and Kurama run off the school grounds and disappear around a corner.

-----

Darting from treetop to treetop Hiei easily manages to keep the bolt parallel to himself. With a loud crash it strikes a young tree, obliterating it and stopping Hiei in his tracks. When the light from the small explosion has faded Hiei sees the girl standing on a thick tree branch. He stops in his tracks and watches her, his curiosity piqued. Ever so slowly the girl's body twists around until she's looking straight at him. Hiei smirks before jumping over to stand next to her. Her eyes follow him.

"Who are you?" Sai breaks the silence with the question eyes never leaving his. Feeling the words pulled from him he answers.

"Hiei Jaganshi." Crossing his arms over his chest he affects a look of nonchalance.

"No… Who are you?" Hiei raises an eyebrow.

"Baka. I just told you-."

"Until you learn the full reality of what you truly are you will not be able to defeat me." The girl's eyes flash briefly as she raises a hand, pointing one finger at Hiei, "Keep an eye on your sister for me."

A smaller stream of electricity shoots like a bullet and makes a semi straight line towards him. With incredible speed Hiei jumps off the branch and lands on the ground. Using the ground as leverage he pushes up behind her, unsheathing his katana. In one smooth motion he thrusts down onto the girls exposed head. The line of the katana's movement slices the tree branch clean. The branch crashes to the ground. Hiei lands next to it. With slit eyes he looks at his bloodless sword.

"Coward." He sheathes his katana and takes off after her.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay please rate and review. I would love some constructive critisism!

(YuYuHakusho not mine.)

**Chapter 3**

_Of all Elemental manifestations, those of Darkness are the most destructive and frightening. Be it caused by a magician's will or by a natural death wish, corruption, turmoil and chaos then take shape on earth._

Sai looks back briefly, one foot on the platform to get on the waiting bus, eyes scanning the trees expectantly.

"Hey, you coming or not?" The driver asks, impatience written all over his ugly face. His voice grabs her attention and she hops on. Digging into her pocket for some loose change she pays the fare and takes a seat in the middle of the bus. The other passengers look at her strangely as though seeing but not really seeing her. A particular teenage boy stares unmercifully at her, his eyes gleaming in appreciation, for Sai or something else she doesnt know nor care. To freak him out she stares back, unblinking. He blushes and looks away glooing his eyes to the front of the bus. Watching him disinterestedly her mind goes back to the boy with the katana.

_Hiei Jaganshi, the forbidden child. What's he doing in Ningenkia? More importantly what is he doing with the detective? Helping him no doubt, but why? The forbidden child I've heard of would never stoop so low as to help a Ningen- no half-human now. _A corner of her mouth lifts slightly.

Feeling the presence of two very familiar beings Sai Zoten's eyes narrow.

Without warning the bus jolts and her gaze focuses once again on the boy. His face is covered with fear and his knuckles are white from the grip he has on the back of the seat. He gulps as another convulsion seizes the bus.

"Look!" someone screams, pointing. Turning to look out the window she sees a black creature with deformed bat wings raming the side of the bus with its thick head. It looks as though it has been warped in a vortex with a twisted body, a head that has a huge gaping mouth, sharp fangs, and large round pupil-less black eyes, and though it looks blind she knows that it can see better than most humans… at least in the dark. Its ears have two spikes growing from the lobe of each one.

"There's another one!" The boy shouts and points out his window to another, identical to the first but for the three spikes on its ears. _Sopen and Karpen. _Pressing her lips together Sai stands and walk on steady legs to the driver.

"Stop the bus." Sai demands in a voice deep with threat.

"_What!?"_ He asks in disbelief, "Can't you see the monsters out there? We stop and we're dead!"

"Keep _going_ and you're dead. I said stop the bus." With a brief moment more of hesitation the drivers mind is made up for him when the road is suddenly filled with cars all stopped in the middle of the road.

He slams on the break.

Using the momentum of the bus Sai dives through the windshield, shattering it. Landing on her hands in a handstand on the back of a little red car. Flipping her feet down she throws a bolt of electricity at one of the demons. Shaking it off it looks over and grins psychotically.

"Look what we found, Karpen! Mm, I smell sweet blood." The creatures voice grates on everyone's ears as it bobs closer to Sai. The other one joins it and licks its lips with a long pointy tongue.

"After all the blood we've spilled for you you're still against us? How ungrateful she is, sister." The other pouts.

Not bothering to grace them with a reply, Sai turns and, using the tops of cars as steps, run. Knowing already that they will follow. Before she's managed to get to far she senses one of them right behind her. Jumping high into the air she barely avoids getting the claws of the creature speared into her back. While airborn, two rough arms wrap around Sai's chest, trapping her arms. Struggling against the grip she tries to free herself as the demon flies up into the cloudy sky. Stopping abruptly it hovers, giving Sai a chance to look down. The cars and people look like nothing more than dots on a page.

"Don't you just want to squash the little bugs?" a high-pitched lisping voice says as a long slimy tongue scrapes her cheek. Restraining a shiver of disgust Sai focuses her eyes on Karpen as she flies towards her sister. When Karpen is close enough that Sai can see her glistening fangs she moves her gaze to the sky. Coaching herself to be calm Sai concentrates on the clouds in the distance. So focused is she that the pain from the fangs buried in her should doesn't seem to register. Karpen floats beside her sister and grabs Sai's wrist, pulling that arm free of Sopen's grasp.

"Sopen, you meany head! You got first bite last time!" Taking out her anger on Sai's arm she yanks on it until a popping is heard. Smiling at that she sinks her teeth into it.

"You shouldn't try to hold lightning, Sopen, it might shock you." The booming of thunder empathizes Sai's words. Slowly her pupils elongate and change until they are jagged and white, like the lightning that has begun shooting from the sky.

"**_Arashi no yo na Ikaru_**!" Voice echoing in the sky an eerie silence falls over everything.

Before anyone can move a huge bolt strikes the group. As it pulses through their bodies the grip loosens and Sai falls. For a moment she falls feet first and her skirt billows around her face. (thank goodness she wore shorts under it!)

Twisting her body in the air until she turns herself so that she is falling face first. A trail of blood following her down, at a slightly slower pace. Fifty feet away from the many cars and people Sai narrows her eyes. A pair of bat-like wings burst from her shoulder blades.

The transformation is pure agony as they split the skin, blood coating them. Spreading her wings out Sai's body jolts as they catch air currents and slow her descent. Landing crouched on the top of a mini truck the twin swords appear in her hands. At least forty frightened faces look up at Sai.

Looking up as well she seeing the sky devoid of those two sickening demons. Heaving a pained sigh the swords dissolve and her wings retract. Standing up she throws her arms wide. From each finger tip a beam of light shoots out. The blood dripping from her mangled arm makes a circle around her as she turns.

"**_Machigawaseru Kioku_**." muttered words echo in the silence that has surrounded Sai. After the final syllable passes her lips she feels the last of her energy pulled from her body and pushed into the people surrounding her. Each person touched by the light fall limply to the ground, or seat of their car. Circle completed, Sai drops her arms and jumps from the truck. Vision going dark, Sai falls to a kneel on the ground. Two black clad feet enter her line of sight. Feeling a slight probe in her mind Sai curses and tries to clear it. Before she can the world covers itself in darkness.

-----

"Will Keiko be okay?" A worried Yusuke asks a frazzled Kurama.

"I don't know, Yusuke. Please stop asking me." Kurama leans against a bleached white wall arms folded over his chest. His head is bowed and his eyes are closed.

"That witch will pay for this." The vehemence in Yusuke's voice warrants a raised eyebrow from Kurama.

"If Hiei hasn't already taken care of that for you."

Yusuke turns and glares at the ever-collected Kurama, the signs of a temper tantrum showing clearly in his eyes.

A ruckus down the hall grabs the two boys attention. They look to see Hiei and a bunch of Koenma's guards. Hiei has a bloodied figure draped over his shoulder.

"Sai." He bites out, clenching his hands into fists. "You didn't have to kill her, Hiei, that's my job!" he yells out in frustration. Hiei looks over at Yusuke, his face angry.

"She isn't dead, baka, and I didn't fight her. If I had she _would _be dead."

"Go on." Kurama says his curiosity piqued.

"She was attacked by two shadow demons in Ningenkai.." Hiei turns from them and roughly hands the girl to the guards, not being careful of her wounds in the least. Without another word he walks away, Kurama's eyes following his retreating form.

"Where shall we find her when we wish to… interrogate her?" Yusuke smirks cracking his knuckles and turning toward the demon holding the unconscious girl.

"If what Hiei-san told us about her is true we'll probably put her in holding cell #68a21e. First, though, we're going to take her to the infirmary to make sure that she'll be alive to question." The demon gestures to the other guards, silently telling them to 'go back to work'. He nods to the two boys, "Detective." And walks towards the infirmary.

"Alright. Let's find Hiei and pummel him for information." Yusuke heads down the hallway Hiei went down.

"Yusuke I don't believe that is the wisest idea." Kurama says, not moving from his spot against the wall.

"And why not?" Yusuke turns to face him, angry again.

"Hiei seemed to be more upset than usual. It's very probable that if you bother him he may kill you." Kurama points out. Yusuke's shoulders slump when he realizes the truth of this, and though he could take Hiei he really didn't want to.


	4. Chapter 4

YuYu Hakusho not mine...sigh**  
**

**Chapter 4**

_Giving in is what kills people. Only when you refuse to give in with your whole heart can you transcend humanity. Even in the face of death never give in._

"How long will it take for her to heal?"

"That's difficult to say… Her condition seems to be merely mental."

"Despite all the electricity damage she took it's merely mental?"

"It _is_ baffling but all of the tests have shown that there is nothing wrong with her.

In fact, if what you told us is true, she should be dead."

"Instead she just won't wake up."

"Hai."

A blue skinned demon in a white doctors coat stands in front of an unconscious Keiko lying in a patient's bed. Yusuke sits impatiently in a chair next to her, his glower focused on the doctor. With a jerky move he shifts his gaze to the girl in the next bed, eyes narrowing.

"Why's she in here?" his voice bites with frost.

"Koenma-sama's orders, Yusuke-san." The doctor looks over at the other girl, eyes drooping.

"Let me know as soon as that girl wakes up. I want to be the first thing she sees-."

"Actually I won't be able to do that. Koenma-sama wanted to be informed as soon as she showed any sign of regaining consciousness. Said he didn't want anyone to talk to her until he had." Yusuke jumps to his feet in frustration, hands fisting.

"That's stupid! I'm the one-."

"If you have a problem with Koenma-sama's orders, Detective, maybe you should take it up with Koenma-sama." They stand there briefly having a stare down, the doctor's form unrelenting and Yusuke's tense with anger. Abruptly Yusuke backs down. Shoving his hands in his pockets he stomps out of the infirmary and down the halls, towards Koenma's office, grumbling the whole way.

---

Keiko finds herself floating in a sea of darkness. Darkness so complete and empty of sound, touch or sight that all of her senses strain, desperate to fulfill their tasks. The darkness seems to pulse, jamming the rest of her senses, engulfing her completely, strangling the breath out of her, drowning her in its utter lack of anything. She opens her mouth to scream but no sound emerges, her eyes squeeze shut in terror as her mind begs for light, for sound, for anything to save her from this. She feels her sanity slowly, oh so slowly, being ripped from her.

_Keiko. _The mental voice rips the complete silence like a knife.

_Keiko?.. That's…. my name._ She clings to her name like an anchor.

_Keiko, you need to relax._

The voice's familiarity and strength lend to Keiko's own and she forces her body to unclench. As she focuses her will on that she feels the darkness loosening its grip on her mind. _I'm winning! _No sooner did the thought solidify than the emptiness surges inside of her regaining its grip on her mind, pulling her down with a vengeance.

_Yusuke. Think of Yusuke. _

Like a child in need of something familiarher mind grasps the word. _Yusuke?_

_Yes. He needs you. _

_Yusuke. He needs me. _As she thinks of him the darkness begins to recoil from her mind as though burned.

_He needs you to be strong. _

_Yusuke. I will be strong for him._ Her lips curve into a small smile and the void releases her a little more from its grasp. Her mind replays moments of their time together. She sees herself leaning over his supposedly dead body, trying desperately to force the life back into it with her lips. She sees herself leaning against the trunk of a tree, the exhausted spirit detective pining her there with his head on her shoulder. Suddenly she feels a hand rest on her shoulder.

Her eyes fly open to find floating in front of her is Yusuke, his hair flat and untidy, standing calmly in his normal street clothes. His form is lined with a thick yellow glow, providing the only light to fight the darkness. His hand reaches out to her as his eyes glint in joy and his mouth curves in a tender smile. She feels her own mouth curve in an answering smile as she unhesitantly reaches out to grasp his hand. The moment her hand touches his the emptiness issues a silent scream and it releases her mind completely. Keiko looks up into his eyes as his form wavers and fades away taking his light with him. She feels a twinge of despair _Go figure, he would never really look at me that way… _Her gaze falls so that she is looking down into the darkness. With a start she realizes that the light hasn't gone just… shifted. Looking down at her hands she sees a pale white energy pulsing from her body.

_What is this?_

"That is _your_ spirit energy." The echoing voice seems agonizingly loud in the silence and Keiko looks up, surprised by it. Walking towards her through the black is a glowing form, only this one's light crackles and sparks as though filled with a life of it's own shifting from white to navy blue to glowing black.

"Who are you?" As the figure gets closer it solidifies, the light becoming less intense. Almost as though it's being suppressed.

"Don't you remember? I _am_ the one who did this to you after all." The figure clears into a short black haired girl.

"Sai….chan?"

She stops just feet away from Keiko.

"You tried to kill me."

"If I had truly been trying you would be in little convulsing pieces, not just in an astral plane." Sai stares up at Keiko with empty eyes, her face closed and unyielding.

"Why?" Sai's eyes meet Keiko's own.

"It was the only way to stop Mitsuko from using you against the Detective, and Koenma wouldn't listen to me." Keiko's eyes widen in disbelief as she looks down at the small girl who had attacked her.

---

"Hey pacifier breath, what's the deal with-." Yusuke bursts into Koenma's usually habited office his rave already poring out of his mouth. His words cut off at the lack of the toddler's relatively small presence. He looks at the stack of papers leaning dangerously to the side and wonders where the annoying little brat could have gone.

---

The sought after Koenma stands perched on the chair next to the patient bed holding the no longer blood covered Sai. His hands tightly grip the sheets covering her as his young eyes look down at her prone figure in anger and confusion.

"What's her condition?" his voice is clipped and sharp as though trying to keep himself from climbing onto the bed and jumping on it until Sai wakes up.

"She's stabilized herself and stopped the blood flow, so that's nothing to worry about. The real problem is that she seems to be suffering from exhaustion, possibly from over-exertion, and that is why such small injuries are causing an effect like this."

Koenma nods eyes still glued to the girl.

----

Keiko stares at the girl standing in front of her. Shaking her head to try and clear it, she looks around.

"Where are we again?"

"We're in an astral plane." Sai looks up at the befuddled girl, her eyes clear and frozen.

"An…astral plane?" Sai nods, "but how?"

"It's a talent I have, but I can't keep you here for much longer, not safely anyway." Looking down at Sai Keiko notices the beads of sweat on her forehead glistening in the girls' light.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"It is the only place that I could make you aware of your own power without Mitsuko knowing. And once you return to your body you have to ask Koenma to train you."

"Train me? Oh no, I'm not really a fighter." Keiko chuckles nervously. Fighting? Her? That's absurd. The only person she fights with is Yusuke.

"You will be. In the upcoming battles you must to be able to defend yourself. Yusuke will need all of his focus to defeat Mitsuko, not to protect you." These words, spoken through clenched teeth make Keiko bristle in both fear and indignation. Seeing this Sai's eyes grow hard, "Do you wish to see Yusuke die?" her voice is sharp like a katana and it cuts Keiko to the core, "That is what will happen if you don't do what I say." Sai firmly presses her lips together as her brow furrows in determination and her breathing quickens.

Keiko feels something pulling on her mind like a hook reeling her in and Sai's form seems to dim and fade.

"Wait!" Keiko struggles against the pull trying to stay with the exhausted Sai, "Wait!" Slowly she feels the pull let up on her and she smiles a little in triumph. She looks over at her companion mouth opening to ask a question. Meeting crystal eyes with her own brown ones Keiko gasps at the unexpected emotion there.

"_**Rectru-es'-Non**." _The words echo in the sudden stillness and feeling as though being pulled through an oozy substance at an amazing speed Keiko is once again surrounded in darkness. With a sickening jerk her downward plunge halts and she opens her eyes.

------------------

Please everyone rate and review! Questions, comments, kudos, death threats, letter bombs, all are welcome! Any critisism is welcome wince...


End file.
